Currently re-reading Paul Torday's 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen', which is very good. I was put off it when it was first given to me, because the title sounded like some novelty thing like 'Round Ireland with a Fridge*'. It is nothing of the kind and the mixture of letters, emails, diary entries and interview transcriptions works well. Plus, Dr Jones' wife Mary is one seriously ghastly fictional creation.

*although that was quite fun, to be honest.

A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it isn’t open. Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)

Currently re-reading Paul Torday's 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen', which is very good. I was put off it when it was first given to me, because the title sounded like some novelty thing like 'Round Ireland with a Fridge*'. It is nothing of the kind and the mixture of letters, emails, diary entries and interview transcriptions works well. Plus, Dr Jones' wife Mary is one seriously ghastly fictional creation.

*although that was quite fun, to be honest**.

** It was daft. I thought most of it just had to be made up. Well, not that I ...errr....read like it. I was on the latest Stephen Hawkings and I just caught a glimpse of it in Dixons' window......

Just finished Robinson Crusoe, which is a classic I thought I knew about but actually proved a great surprise.

I'm now half way through 'Slipless in Settle, a Slow Turn around Northern Cricket" by Harry Pearson, who has written loads of brilliant light-hearted commentary on various aspects of life in the north of England. The pages are turning fast and I love it. If you have any interest in cricket then you'll devour it.

Sex & Bowls and Rock and Roll- This earned me some funny looks on the tram. I love the idea of a scooby Doo bookcase!

Blurb
The story of a man who gives up the rock ‘n’ roll dream… to play bowls.

Alex Marsh wanted to be a rock star - but it didn’t work out. Instead he toiled away in the big city - only to give up his career, move to rural Norfolk, and become a househusband. Only he isn’t a very good one. Whilst his pride won't let him admit it, he struggles with the cooking, the cleaning and the isolation. He hires a cleaner without telling his wife, his repertoire of baked potatoes exhausts quickly. He becomes hooked on daytime television and computer solitaire. He is in danger of becoming weird.

So he takes up bowls. In Sex & Bowls & Rock and Roll we follow a season in the life of the village bowls team, a group of amateur sportsmen and mild eccentrics. In doing so we see this unfashionable pastime in a whole new light, and very funny it is too. But Alex hasn’t quite given up on his dreams of rock stardom. Discovering that some of his mates down the pub are a bit handy with bass and drums he makes one final stab at being in a band, with an eagerly awaited local gig. It is a complete disaster.

Join Alex has he comes to terms with life as a domestic disappointment, attempts to learn the fine art of bowls and finally realises that supporting the Sultans Of Ping at the Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh really was the highpoint of his musical career. Sex & Bowls & Rock and Roll is a hilarious account of the life of a genuinely modern man. Everyone will recognise themselves (or their husbands) and you will be hard pressed not to laugh out loud.

Just finished Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant. The cover features RPatz which is worrying but having read it he must be about the most miscast person in cinema history. It's a cracking read as well. Fair rolls along and is quite wonderfully cynical throughout.

Had a bit of time off reading but am now back in the game and making my way through The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. For a really long time Jon Ronson annoyed the hell out of me but then I caught one of his Jon Ronson On ... programmes on the wireless and realised that it was me not him that had the problem. Really enjoying the book - a journey through the world of madness, mental illness and psycopathy - though I doubt it's going to have any answers by the end, just a lot of intriguing questions and startling characters.

Just finished The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Don Thompson. You won't find much surprising about the egos and fragile vanities of the contemporary art world but some of the stuff is pretty compelling. It's a shame that some of the detail - for example the chapter on fakes - is so slight when there's clearly a lot more that could be said although probably not without committing a major libel or two.